There were at least a few moments on Saturday evening in Union, N.J. when it appeared that the women's basketball team might be able to give powerhouse Kean a serious case of March Madness.
Going toe−to−toe with the nation's second−ranked team for a full 40 minutes, however, proved too Herculean a task.
The Jumbos managed to scare the Cougars through most of their clash in the second round of the NCAA Tournament over the weekend, but Kean used a late second−half spurt to pull away by a score of 75−56 and end Tufts' season at 21−6.
After sputtering a bit in February, the Jumbos were given arguably the most difficult draw of the five NESCAC teams that made the tournament field. Still, Tufts made the most of its opportunity, knocking off Centennial Conference runner−up Muhlenberg in Friday's opening round before giving Final Four favorite Kean a run for its money in the round of 32.
"It's great to know that we can play with anyone," said senior forward Julia Baily, who ended her Tufts career on Saturday with both her 13th double−double of the season and the 1,000th point of her career. "As coach [Carla Berube] said, to overachieve like we did really makes it a lot more of a bittersweet ending than a sad one. We were with [Kean] for 75 percent of the game, and to play that way against the No. 2 team in the country is pretty exciting."
Winners of 27 straight heading into Saturday's contest, the Cougars — in spite of the absence of injured Preseason All−American Melissa Beyruti — were still considered to be heavy favorites over the unranked Jumbos. But with its stifling defense leading the charge, Tufts went into halftime trailing just 29−28 and stayed within single digits through the first 10 minutes of the second half.
In the end, however, Tufts simply ran out of steam. From the time it held its last lead of the game — a 36−35 advantage with 16:26 to play — until the final buzzer, Tufts missed 22 of 29 shots and turned the ball over eight times.
Kean took full advantage, scoring 40 of the game's final 60 points to secure a much−expected berth in the Sweet Sixteen.
"They have some phenomenal athletes and some really good players, and they really turned it up in the second half," Berube said. "We ran out of gas and missed some easy shots that we should be able to make … but we've never seen that kind of pressure from anyone. The long arms, the athletes — they're a very good basketball team."
While the struggles down the stretch ultimately finished the Jumbos, their inability to seize opportunities in the first half put them in a compromising position. After falling behind 11−5 in the early going, Tufts held Kean without a field goal for the next 8:53 but managed only nine points of its own during that stretch.
"We held them at 11 points for almost 10 minutes, and what really stings is how we didn't exploit that," Baily said. "To defend like we did for that amount of time is good, and I think that we did put them on their heels in the first half."
Miscues on the offensive end prevented the Jumbos from taking full advantage of their sterling defense. A Tufts team that entered Saturday averaging a touch over 14 turnovers a game compiled 13 in the first half alone — the vast majority on travelling violations.
"I thought we shot ourselves in the foot with all the turnovers and the travels and not playing composed basketball," Berube said. "That's what we talked about in the locker room. I told them, ‘Don't beat yourselves — make Kean beat you.'"
Amid the disappointment of their season−ending loss, the Jumbos were, however, able to celebrate a rather significant milestone. By completing a three−point play with 8:16 remaining in the game, Baily became just the 10th player in program history to tally 1,000 career points. The First Team All−NESCAC forward was able to eclipse the mark despite averaging just 5.2 minutes a game her freshman year.
"I'm really proud of her for scoring her thousandth point and putting together a phenomenal career," Berube said. "It's only the third thousand−point scorer that I've ever coached, and she basically did it in three years."
Baily surpassed the milestone by finishing with 17 points in the game to go along with 11 rebounds. Junior tri−captain Colleen Hart did her part to keep Tufts in the game, drilling eight three−pointers as part of a sensational 28−point performance.
The Jumbos managed just 11 points outside of Hart and Baily, in stark contrast to a Cougars squad that received contributions from several players in Beyruti's absence. Filling the starting lineup spot of Kean's leading scorer in eight of its 28 games this season was sophomore guard Brittany Powell, who chipped in with a team−best 21 points. Junior forward Angelica Bermudez, meanwhile, came off the bench to snare a game−high 15 rebounds.
"I felt all year that we were deep," Cougars coach Michele Sharp said. "We play a lot of kids — none of our starters played over 25 minutes the entire season. I think Brittany Powell did a great job stepping into Melissa's spot."
Tufts advanced to the NCAA round of 32 after dispatching Muhlenberg 71−59 on Friday evening. In their first game action since Feb. 20, the Jumbos never trailed and showed no signs of rust, beginning the game on an 18−3 run and maintaining a 12−point cushion at halftime.
"To simply put it, it was fun," sophomore Kate Barnosky said on Friday of the team's first−half performance. "We played our game: upbeat, running, getting stops. It was an all−around team effort."
The Mules closed the Jumbo lead to five midway through the second half. But some clutch buckets by Hart, who had 14 points in the period, and a solid 17−of−22 effort from the free−throw line helped the Jumbos improve to 3−0 all−time in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.
The victory was one of the final highlights of Tufts' banner 2009−10 campaign. Down eight members of last year's NCAA Tournament team, the Jumbos exceeded expectations this season by earning a return trip to the Big Dance.
"I told the team that I was really, really proud of them," Berube said. "Honestly, I didn't know at the beginning of the season what we would be. Could we make it back to the NCAA Tournament? Those were some major doubts, and game−by−game, they proved to me and to themselves just how good we can be. People stepped up, practices were really competitive and we got better every day."
